Ahmedabad: Teachers are the greatest assets of society as they touch a thousand tender lives and shape the minds of future citizens. They dedicate their heart and soul to imparting education and value to their students. With the efforts and contribution of Praveenbhai, a primary school teacher from Jhamp village in Gujarat's Ahmedabad, as many as 350 female students have made great inroads in hockey.
When Praveenbhai joined the Jhamp Primary School as a teacher, only 70 girls were studying in the school. Soon after, he began paying attention to girls' education and with his consistent efforts, more than 350 girls are now actively pursuing education as well as bringing laurels to the school by taking part in hockey tournaments.
Praveenbhai joined the school 18 years ago and made intense efforts to improve the education standards and also make the co-curricular activities more engaging and rewarding. His hard work has paid off as today, the girls of the school have participated in and won various competitions at state and national levels.
"I joined this school in 2004 as a teacher. At the time, girls in the village were not attending the school. Only about 70 girls had enrolled. It was at that time I decided to focus on sports to bring these girls towards education. I was attracted to national game hockey and started training the students. Today, the number of female students in the school has increased to 350," Praveenbhai said.
Encouraged by the sport, the girls from the village started joining the school. Several local trusts and NGOs, upon seeing local girls doing well in hockey, also jumped in to help them as they donated hockey sticks, shoes, gloves, helmets, gloves and foot pads to the school.
Among the students are some who have won in district-level hockey tournaments in Gandhinagar, Surat, and Chhotaudepur. They have also participated in the semi-finals of hockey at the national level.
The winning team at the state level in 2022 was honoured by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel. Apart from this, teacher Praveenbhai was also honoured with the Vidyaguru Award by the Gujarat Education Minister.
